Household wealth in Britain: how does it compare by region?

The aggregate total wealth of all private households in Britain came to £9.5tn in 2010/12, while median household wealth is highest in the south east of England. See the key data from the latest release

Figures, released as part of the ONS' wealth and assets survey, show that the aggregate total wealth of all private households in Great Britain was £9.5tn in 2010/12, with half of all households recording total wealth of £218,400 or more.

Across all three waves of the survey (2006/08, 2008/10 and 2010/12) the wealthiest 10% of households were 2.4 times wealthier than the second wealthiest 10%.

Households in the south east have the highest median wealth

The release also breaks down household wealth by region. Households in south east were found to have a median wealth of £309,700 - the highest of any region across Britain. The release notes though that the south east has consistently been the wealthiest across all three waves of the survey.

The map below shows median household total wealth, by region between 2006/08 and 2010/12.

Between 2006/08 and 2010/12, eight of the nine English regions recorded an increase in median household total wealth, with households in London seeing the largest proportional rise - median household wealth rose in the capital by 31%. The north east saw the only fall over the same period with a proportional fall of 10%.

Scotland recorded a proportional rise of 11% and Wales saw a proportional rise of 4% between 2006/08 and 2010/12.

Private pensions account for the largest proportion of household wealth

Making up 38% of total household wealth in 2010/12, private pensions accounted for the largest proportion of household wealth. Private property follows close behind at 37%. Financial wealth made up 14% and physical wealth accounted for 12%.

The chart above shows aggregate total wealth by decile and the breakdown by type of wealth. Each decile contains one tenth of the wealth distribution – from the least wealthy households in the first decile to the wealthiest in the tenth.

Physical wealth made the largest contribution to total wealth for the lowest three deciles in 2010/12. In contrast, private pension wealth made the largest contribution to total wealth for the top two wealth deciles.

One in five people educated to degree level, live in households with total wealth of £1m or more

Those who were educated to ‘degree level or above’ were the most likely to live in households with a total wealth of £1m or more (20%), of all the education level groups in 2010/12.

How do the ONS measure wealth?

The ONS' Wealth and Assets survey is a longitudinal survey, meaning that respondents are interviewed more than once, with around a two year interval in the case of this study.

It breaks household wealth down into four broad categories:

Net property wealth: if owned, the value of a household's main residence including any other property such as second homes, holiday homes, land and buy-to-lets. Property owning households also provide values for any mortgages held against property/properties so that net property wealth can be estimated

Physical wealth: the value of a household's contents, possessions and valuables in their main residence and any other properties owned. The value of vehicles is also included within this category

Net financial wealth: this includes money saved in formal financial assets, e.g. savings accounts, current accounts, ISAs and stocks and shares. It also includes money saved informally, e.g cash stashed in a drawer and in children's assets. Any financial liabilities held, such as outstanding balances on credit cards and student loans, are then subtracted to provide a net measure of wealth

Private pension wealth: this includes occupational and personal pensions as well as retained rights in private pensions and pensions in payment. Basically, it is the accrued value of all pensions that are not state basic retirement or state earning related

The ONS then combine the above four categories to calculate household wealth. By adding together the household wealth of each household they are then able to provide an estimate of total household wealth in Britain.

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